Cross bar slide selector switch

ABSTRACT

An electric switch having an open-sided housing normally closed by a dielectric base supporting on opposite faces thereof transversely extending independent conductive elements with contacts for each of said elements exposed on one face of the base, and a slider carrying a contactor provided with a pair of interconnected spring contacts that wipably engage the exposed contacts of all of the conductive elements, with the slider positioned over the base by actuation of an operating lever carried by the slider that extends outwardly of the housing through an elongated slot formed therein.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Walter L. Cherry;

Raymond Castle, Highland Park, Ill. [21 1 Appl. No. 795,970 [2 2] FiledFeb. '3, 1969 [45] Patented Jan. 12, 1971 [73} Assignee CherryElectrical Products Corporation Highland Park, Ill. 2 a corporation ofIllinois [54] CROSS BAR SLIDE SELECTOR SWITCH 4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

7 {52] U.S.Cl 200/17, 200/ 166 [51] Int. Cl H0lh 15/00 [50] FieldofSeareh ZOO/16,17, 5, 167; 335/161 [56] References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS Re. 24.586 1/1959 Davis 200/16 200/16X 3,027,506 3/1962Stenhammeretal ZOO/16X 3,146,320 8/1964 Wang et a1.

3,205,319 9/1965 Anderson et a1 200/16 3,222,466 12/1965 Helus et al.200/16 3,299,266 1/1967 Edwards 200/16 3,308,250 3/1967 Field 111 etal..... 200/16 3,465,] 13 9/1969 Cherry et a1. we 3,467,922 9/1969Greenwall, Jr. et a1. ZOO/16X Primary Examiner-Robert K. SchaeferAssistant Examiner-.1. R. Scott Attorney-Edward C. Threedy ABSTRACT: Anelectric switch having an open-sided housing normally closed by adielectric base supporting on opposite faces thereof transverselyextending independent conductive elements with contacts for each of saidelements exposed on one face of the base, and a slider carrying acontactor provided with a pair of interconnected spring contacts thatwipably engage the exposed contacts of all of the conductive elements,with the slider positioned over the base by actuation of an operatinglever carried by the slider that extends out wardly of the housingthrough an elongated slot formed therein.

CROSS BAR SLIDE SELECTOR SWITCH SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A crossbarslide switch having a contactmember carried by and niovably positionedwithin a hollow housing, which comprises a one-piece open-sided casingnormally closed by a printed circuit plate. Means provided by thecontact member for simultaneously engaging a plurality of independentconductive elements provided by the printed circuit plate, and meansprovided by the casing for indexing the contact member in relation tothe plurality of independent conductive elements as the contact memberis selectively moved within the housing over the printed circuit plate.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION Reference is made to the accompanying drawing inwhich there is shown an illustrative embodiment of the invention andfrom which its novel features and advantages will be readily apparent.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the drawing inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the slide switch;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the slide switch;

FIG. 3 is a detailed sectional view of the open-sided casing for theslide switch;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary detailed sectional view 4-4 of FIG. I;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary end elevational view of the slider as associatedwith this invention;

taken on line FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the spring contactmember;-

and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of one side of the base or printed circuit boardassociated with this invention.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a crossbar slide switch 10 thatcomprises a one-piece molded casing defined by a top wall 11, sidewalls12 and end walls 13. At each corner of the casing, adjacent the junctionbetween the side and end walls, laterally extends a hollow stud 14, thepurpose of which will be hereinafter explained.

The top wall I l of the casing has formed therein a plurality ofelongated parallelly extending slots 15. As seen in FIG. 5 thelongitudinal walls 16 which define the side edges of each of the slotshave on their under surface a depending rib 17 which cooperate with eachother to form elongated channels 18 beneath the slots 15. The undersurface of the walls 16 to either side of their depending rib 17 aredesigned to provide a series of indexing teeth 19.

A dielectric base plate 20 is provided as a closure or bottom wall forthe casing, and has on one face thereof printed con-.

ductive elements 22, and on its other face additional printed conductiveelements 23, which include terminals 24 that project through the base 20and are positioned in an exposed, isolated relationship to the printedconductive elements 22 on face 21, as seen in FIG. 7.

Referring to FIG. 4 there is shown a slider 25 which comprises anelongated rectangularly shaped body 26, the bottom surface of which isrecessed as at 27 so as to contain a contactor 28.

The upper longitudinal side edges of the body 26 are cut away so thatwhen the slider 25 is positioned in any one of the channels 18 the sidesthereof will be between a pair of depending; ribs I7 and the indexingteeth 19 adjacent to each rib will extend through the area of thecutaway edges as shown in FIG. 5. In the area of the cutaway edgestheslider 25 provides a pair of cams 29 at each side of the base of alaterally extending actuating level 30 integrally formed on the slider25, and which is adapted to be projected out of a slot 15 formed in thetop wall 11 of the switch casing as shown.

The contactor 28 is preferably formed from a single strand of springwire, and as such has its medial portion 31 disposed within andextending diagonally across the bottom of, the p recess 27 formed in thebody 26 of the slider 25. The opposite ends 32 of the medial dportion 31are angularly bent thereto and terminate into ownwardly inclined legs 33which yieldably support substantially flat contact portions 34 adjacentthe opposite slightly elevated ends 35 of the spring wire piece as seenin FIG. 6.

When a slider 25, together with its contactor 28 is placed so that itsactuating lever 30 is projected out of a slot 15, and the base plate 20is positioned upon the hollow lugs 14 and the same are stacked throughcorresponding openings 36 formed in the base 20, the slide switch iscompletely assembled. The base 20 is provided with longitudinallyextending terminal ends 37 and 38, each of which may be readilyassociated with suitable electrical connections.

As seen in FIGS. 4 and 5 the contact portions 34 of the contactor 28will engage both the printed conductive element 22 and selectively theexposed terminal 24 of any one of the printed conductive elements 23.The earns 29 permit the movement of the slider 25 through the slot 15,and cooperates with the index teeth 19 to position the contactor 28 inselective engagement with the conductive elements 22 and exposedterminals 24 as desired.

While we have illustrated and described the preferred form ofconstruction for carrying our invention into effect, this is capable ofvariation and modification without departing from the spirit of theinvention. We, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precisedetails of construction set forth, but desire to avail ourselves of suchvariations and modifications as come within the scope of the appendedclaims.

We claim: r

l. A multiple slide switch assembly comprising a one-piece molded casingincluding side and end walls, and a top wall having formed therein aplurality of elongated parallel slots, and a bottom wall mounted on theedge portions of the side and end walls and in spaced relation to thetop wall, and having a plurality of electrical conductive elementsthereon, wherein the improvement comprises:

a. means provided by the underside of the top wall of the casing toeither side of each of the slots defining channels beneath and in opencommunication therewith;

b. a slider housing positioned in each of said channels and having alever portion extending out of the slot associated with the channel;

c. a contactor carried by the underside of said slider, and

having spring contacts in wiping engagement with conductive elementscarried by the bottom wall with said spring fingers biasing the slideraway from the bottom wall and into said channels; and

d. detents on said slider housing cooperating with like provided on theunderside of the top wall and to either side of said slots therein forindexing said spring contacts.

2. The multiple slide switch assembly of claim 1 further defined byhaving said contactor comprising a one-piece preformed spring wire, theopposite free ends of which terminate into spaced apart parallel contactportions with each contact portion movable over and into wipingengagement with independent conductive elements provided on the bottomwall of the switch casing, said bottoni wall having conductive elementson each face thereof extending transversely with respect to each otherand providing isolated parallelly extending contact surfaces on one faceof the bottom wall so that said contact surfaces are engagedsimultaneously by said spaced contact portions of said contactor as thesame is moved over said bottom wall.

3. The multiple slide switch assembly as defined by claim 1 wherein saidmeans provided by the underside of the top wall of the casing includesdepending ribs extending parallel to the I elongated slots formed in thetop wall of the casing.

1. A multiple slide switch assembly comprising a one-piece molded casingincluding side and end walls, and a top wall having formed therein aplurality of elongated parallel slots, and a bottom wall mounted on theedge portions of the side and end walls and in spaced relation to thetop wall, and having a plurality of electrical conductive elementsthereon, wherein the improvement comprises: a. means provided by theunderside of the top wall of the casing to either side of each of theslots defining channels beneath and in open communication therewith; b.a slider housing positioned in each of said channels and having a leverportion extending out of the slot associated with the channel; c. acontactor carried by the underside of said slider, and having springcontacts in wiping engagement with conductive elements carried by thebottom wall with said spring fingers biasing the slider away from thebottom wall and into said channels; and d. detents on said sliderhousing cooperating with like provided on the underside of the top walland to either side of said slots therein for indexing said springcontacts.
 2. The multiple slide switch assembly of claim 1 furtherdefined by having said contactor comprising a one-piece preformeD springwire, the opposite free ends of which terminate into spaced apartparallel contact portions with each contact portion movable over andinto wiping engagement with independent conductive elements provided onthe bottom wall of the switch casing, said bottom wall having conductiveelements on each face thereof extending transversely with respect toeach other and providing isolated parallelly extending contact surfaceson one face of the bottom wall so that said contact surfaces are engagedsimultaneously by said spaced contact portions of said contactor as thesame is moved over said bottom wall.
 3. The multiple slide switchassembly as defined by claim 1 wherein said means provided by theunderside of the top wall of the casing includes depending ribsextending parallel to the elongated slots formed in the top wall of thecasing.
 4. The multiple slide switch assembly as defined by claim 2wherein said means provided by the underside of the top wall of thecasing includes depending ribs extending parallel to the elongated slotsformed in the top wall of the casing.